One forever memory of my dad is him praying. Every single night, we saw him kneel at his bedside on his knees, right in front of his nightstand with the stash of coins on top, emptied from his pocket at the end of each day, and silently pray before going to sleep. Every single night, without fail. And then there were the family prayers. He would gather us all together to hold hands in the living room before all of our family trips so that he could pray for safe travels; even now, at any holiday family gathering, he is the one praying before we all eat.
I can’t remember exactly when, maybe around when Ash turned two, I taught him a simple prayer before bed, “Thank you, Jesus, Amen.” And every night for the past couple of years, he has said this prayer, without fail. One night, several months ago, he addended the prayer with no promptings from me. “Thank you, Jesus, for mommy, daddy, Asher, Amen.” I, of course, thought it was a beautiful addition, so I encouraged him, “That’s a good prayer, baby.”
So, he kept making his prayer longer. He randomly added a couple of his favorite neighborhood friends to his prayer list. We smile when he says Varren, always with extra stress on pronouncing the “V” because, for some time, he called him Warren until Varren corrected him. He then eventually added his Pastor to the list. He is usually the last person he will name “…and Pastor Winans. Amen.”
Recently, in the past couple of months, he has broadened his prayers. Every time he does, I encourage him with, “That’s a good prayer.” He usually now will agree with me and echo, “Yes, that’s a good prayer.” It couldn’t be any sweeter to hear my child praying before bed about the important things to him. One night he prayed for “no monsters” so that he wouldn’t be scared. The next night he prayed, “Thank you, Jesus, for mommy, daddy, Asher… (all of his friends) and Pastor Winans, doing school work, and eating food. Amen.” And then there was the prayer where he thanked Jesus for candy. Last week after he video called his Papa, who he knew had just come home from the hospital, he prayed, “Thank you, Jesus, for mommy, daddy, Asher…..Pastor Winans, for PaPa feeling better and God. Amen,” My heart smiled so big.
I find myself looking forward to his bedtime prayers. It’s the sweetest, purest part of my day. And I can’t help but think that one day when Ash grows up and has children of his own, they will be watching him every single night, kneel on both of his knees on the side of his bed, in front of his nightstand and pray. That is what legacy is all about.
